Preview: 29th Chicago Duo Piano Festival Starts This Friday

The Park Sisters are set to perform. Photo courtesy of the Park Sisters.

The 29th installment of the Music Institute of Chicago’s Duo Piano Festival kicks off with a performance by the winners of last year’s Chicago International Duo Piano Competition on Friday night, July 7, at 7:30 pm. Sisters Esther and Sun-A Park will be performing Mozart’s Two Piano Sonata in D Major, K. 448, and Liszt’s Don Juan Fantasy at the Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston at 7:30. The Park Sisters follow Friday night’s concert with a free master class on Saturday July 8, at 10:00 am.

The Duo Piano Festival runs through July 16. It features performances and discussions by touring performers and Institute faculty. More Liszt can be heard in a program entitled The Literary Liszt, when the piano duo in residence Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem perform and discuss the music of this 19th Century piano virtuoso. The program on Sunday, July 9, at 3:00 pm, includes the famous Mephisto Waltz No. 1. There will be a reception after the performance.

This will be followed by two faculty concerts on Tuesday, July 11, and Friday, July 14, that will include music by Rachmaninoff, Bolcum, Rameau, Debussy, Brahms, and others. Both concerts are at 7:30 pm.

All concerts will take place at the Nichols Concert Hall, at 1490 Chicago Avenue, Evanston. Tickets are $30 adults, $20 seniors, and $10 students. For more information, check out: Chicago Duo Piano Festival Schedule.